


come alive when you're by my side

by thegrayness



Category: Schitt's Creek (TV) RPF
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Medical Inaccuracies, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29403711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegrayness/pseuds/thegrayness
Summary: Dan takes care of Noah after an appendectomy.
Relationships: Dan Levy/Noah Reid
Comments: 21
Kudos: 42
Collections: RPFebruary Prompt Fest





	come alive when you're by my side

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [rpfebpromptfest](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/rpfebpromptfest) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Noah gets appendicitis, Dan reacts accordingly.
> 
> I DID technically do research for this but please expect inaccuracies as I don't let facts get in the way of me telling a story ok.

Noah comes to fuzzily, groaning at the stiffness in his body. He feels vaguely like he’s been hit by a truck, but he remembers a lot of his time in the hospital this morning so he knows that isn’t true. 

A simple procedure, they’d said, and Noah assumes it was--it’s just preceded and followed by a ton of pain. 

He turns his head to look at the nightstand, sees a glass of water and smiles. Dan was talking nonstop about staying hydrated on the way home. Noah remembers that pretty vividly. He groans again as he leans up slightly to grab the glass and take a few small sips. His throat hurts, which is unexpected and annoying. He sets the glass back down and notices a small walkie-talkie looking device that’s definitely new. 

He frowns, but the bedroom door creaks open before he can dwell on it and he turns to see Dan… creeping into the room. There’s no other word for it. He looks like the Grinch about to steal the roast beast. 

“Hi,” Dan whispers. Noah notices he’s holding another walkie-talkie in his hand. Then it clicks. 

“Did you buy a baby monitor to check on me?” Noah asks, incredulous. 

Dan moves like he wants to put his hand behind his back. “It’s—I didn’t want to _bother_ you by coming in all the time, so I thought this would be a good solution and look, here I am as you awaken because I heard you stop snoring on the thing.” He waves it at Noah. 

“You’re—”

Dan puts his hands on his hips and Noah sees his eyebrows fly up his forehead behind his glasses. “I love you,” Noah course-corrects. 

“Yes. Well.” Dan clears his throat and drops the monitor on the bed. “How are you feeling?” He sits on the edge of the bed near Noah’s hip, brushing his fingers through Noah’s hair where it’s curled around his ear. 

“Hurt,” is all Noah feels up to describing. The spots on his abdomen where they poked him to remove his appendix sting sharply, but the rest of him aches too. 

Dan frowns deeply and lays his hand across Noah’s forehead. “You don’t feel too warm. I’ll check your temperature after you eat.”

Noah huffs out a laugh. “You don’t have to take my temperature.” 

“Excuse me, Mr. Reid, I’ll have you know that the most common complication after an appendectomy is infection for which the most easily recognizable sign is fever. So yes, I will be checking your temperature periodically and frankly, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Noah smiles. Dan’s right about that—there’s nothing he can do about it but ignore the little warm feeling he’s getting at the thought of Dan doing hours, probably, of research on procedure recovery. “Okay, Dan.”

Dan nods decisively. “Okay. So, what are you in the mood for? I can make toast. Or crackers and some kind of nut butter? Make sure you drink your water, do you need me to pick it up?”

Noah shakes his head and scoots gingerly up the bed, and Dan leans in to adjust the pillows behind him. “Toast sounds nice,” he murmurs, sipping his water. 

Dan leans in to press a sweet kiss to his forehead. “Coming right up. Then you can take your meds.”

“Dan,” Noah says as Dan stands. He slips his fingers into Dan’s palm and squeezes. “Thanks.”

Dan smiles brightly and squeezes back before letting go and striding out of the room. 

Noah is nearly asleep when Dan brings him food, and he’s feeling weak and just pathetic enough to let Dan feed him bites of toast with jam and butter. 

Noah lies back down, tugging the blankets up to his shoulders. Dan bullies him into a temperature check, and Noah feels Dan’s fingers slide through his hair, and then he’s out again.

*

It’s dark out when Noah wakes up again, and he blinks blearily, feeling disoriented. He feels a little better, the pain near his incisions is almost completely gone. Dan walks in—obviously heard his breathing change on the _baby monitor_ or something else creepy yet caring—just as he’s sitting up to prepare to drink some water. He grunts at the uncomfortable pain in his chest. 

“What—” He says roughly, panting a little. “My chest hurts.”

Dan turns on the bedside lamp and helps him sit up. “It’s from the carbon dioxide they used during the procedure,” Dan says, fluffing his pillow gently and brushing Noah’s hair away from his forehead. “It’ll go away in a few days.”

Noah grunts again. A few days? Noah definitely doesn’t remember anything about that. 

“I know, babe.” Dan feels his forehead again. “Let’s walk to the bathroom. You’re supposed to walk a little. And no offense but you could do with a teeth brushing.” 

Noah exhales instead of laughing—laughing would hurt, he thinks. “Thanks,” Noah murmurs, and he means it. 

In the bathroom, Noah leans against Dan as he sluggishly brushes his teeth. He dribbles water down the front of his t-shirt—he feels drunk and his chest hurts and why did his stupid appendix decide to be a punk after 35 years in his body? 

“Hey, how’d you know ‘bout the carbon dioxide thing?” Noah mumbles as Dan props him up against the counter and wrangles him carefully out of his shirt. 

“I obviously looked up additional recovery tips, Noah,” he says softly, urging Noah back into the bedroom and sitting him on the edge of the bed. “Don’t fall over. I’ll get you another t-shirt.” He leaves Noah with a kiss on the forehead and heads into their closet. 

Once Noah is tucked back into bed, Dan leaves for a few minutes to grab food he says he “made” which Noah is very interested to see. He fumbles on the nightstand for his phone and squints at the brightness before lowering it. He scrolls through his messages, shoots off a few “Doing well, thanks,” messages, and sets it back down on the charger. 

Dan walks into the room carrying a tray of food, with Redmond close behind him. Noah feels his own face light up. “Reddy,” he says softly. He doesn’t have the energy for his usual enthusiasm, but Red’s tail swishes excitedly nonetheless. 

“He’s been very worried,” Dan says. “I didn’t want him riling you up earlier but we had a serious talk about how you need to rest, and we agreed that he would not jump on you.” Dan glances down at Redmond, who is staring up at Dan like he understands every word coming out of his mouth. Red sits politely next to the bed and turns his attention back to Noah, tail still wagging slowly behind him. 

“Hey, buddy,” Noah says quietly, leaning down a bit and holding his hand out. Red scoots forward and bumps his nose against Noah’s palm, licking him once before lowering his head for some ear scratches. 

Dan lets this go on for a few minutes before interrupting. “Okay, Noah has to eat and then you two can snuggle while I finish up downstairs.” Dan nudges Red gently with his foot, and Redmond licks Noah’s hand in goodbye and trots over to his bed, curling up and laying down immediately. 

Noah snorts, adjusting his position against the headboard as Dan places the tray over his lap. He’s looking at a bowl of chicken soup. “You made this?” He asks. “Like from scratch?”

Dan rolls his eyes and picks up a napkin, moving like he’s going to tuck it into the collar of Noah’s shirt. “No, I’m good, I don’t need a bib,” he says, wholly offended.

Dan raises an eyebrow. “You did spill toothpaste all down your shirt earlier,” he points out, which Noah does not appreciate at all. “But okay.” Dan sets the napkin back on the tray.

Noah picks up his spoon and tastes the soup. It’s phenomenal. “You _made_ this?”

“Oh my god, yes, Noah I made it. Did you know chicken soup is just chicken things and veggies and water? And like, herbs?”

Noah laughs, which hurts a lot, so he puts his spoon down and takes a few deep breaths. Dan sits on the edge of the bed next to him, steadying the tray and laying another hand gently on Noah’s shoulder. “You okay?”

“Stop being so funny,” Noah rasps, leaning his head back against the headboard. Dan looks apologetic and worried and on the verge of tears, brows furrowed deeply. Noah lays a hand against Dan’s cheek. “I’m okay, babe.” Dan shakes his head. “Promise,” Noah insists. 

“Do you—” Dan’s voice wobbles dangerously and he clears his throat. “Do you need me to feed you?”

Noah smiles. “I think I can manage.” 

Dan sits with him while he eats, telling him about his day of writing and messaging everyone who asked about Noah. “So, all of Toronto knows you’re all right, now.”

“Thanks for fielding all that,” Noah says, putting his spoon down. “God, just eating a bowl of soup has me exhausted. It was amazing by the way, we are definitely going to be exploring your culinary prowess more often.”

“Mm, we’ll see. And you’re welcome.” He kisses Noah’s cheek and transfers the glass of water from the tray to the nightstand, swapping for the empty one there. He picks up the tray and calls to Redmond, who ambles over to the far side of the bed and hops up gracefully. Noah is impressed that Red can even still jump onto the bed at all. 

“Good boy, Reddy,” Noah says, reaching out to scratch his ears. Red steps carefully though the blankets and lays down, pressed tight against Noah’s thigh. He woofs out a soft noise, ears twitching as he settles in. 

“I’ll leave you two to it,” Dan says. “I’ll be back in a little bit for temp check and meds. Do you want some tea?”

“No, I’m okay. Thanks, doc,” Noah teases. 

Dan harrumphs out the door and Noah smiles down at Redmond, as if he will share in the joy of teasing Dan. Red isn’t even looking at him, which makes Noah smile wider. It’s nice to know some things are still normal even though Noah can barely walk to the bathroom himself. 

Noah’s woken up by the rustling of the covers around him and he feels the bed dip as Dan slides in next to him. “Sorry to wake you,” Dan whispers, wiggling around into position, laying on his side facing Noah. 

Noah grins and blinks sleepily. “S’okay. I miss you when I’m asleep.”

Dan snorts and reaches out to card his fingers through Noah's hair. Noah thinks the gesture soothes Dan more that it does him. “You should feel a little better tomorrow, be able to stay awake longer. But you’re supposed to sleep when you’re tired, okay?”

“What about the temp check?” Noah forces out. He feels a warm press of lips to his forehead. 

“You slept through it.”

Noah’s eyes are closed already but he nods. “Love you.”

*

Noah wakes up in the middle of the night a few times, the pain in his chest making it difficult to find a comfortable position. He guesses he’s lucky he’s so tired, the exhaustion overtaking the trouble he has finding a good spot to arrange his body. 

When he wakes up in the daylight, the sun is bright outside the window through their sheer curtains, so it must be late in the morning. Noah rolls over to find not Dan, but Redmond curled up in Dan’s spot. He blinks at Noah but doesn’t otherwise move. “Hey, buddy,” Noah says, petting Redmond’s head and scratching his ears. “Dad up early to get to work huh?” Noah says. 

Dan gets up as soon as he feels like he has something to put to paper, as it were, so Noah assumes that’s where he is. He glances over to the baby monitor on the nightstand and waves. “Hi, babe, I’m awake.”

The door opens before he’s finished talking. “I know. You make a grumbling noise when you wake up, did you know that?”

Noah snorts, relieved that the pain in his chest has diminished significantly. 

“How do you feel?” Dan sits on the edge of the bed—his caretaking spot—and sets down a cup of tea. 

Noah thinks about it. “I feel okay. Better than yesterday. I’m tired of being in bed though. Even though Red is of course the best cuddle partner.”

“I’m going to forget you said that,” Dan says, grabbing the thermometer.

Noah grins at him through Dan’s thorough check of his vitals, which ends with Dan determining that Noah needs a shower. “Are you going to help me in the shower?” Noah waggles his eyebrows. 

“Wow,” Dan looks at an imaginary watch on his wrist, “so minor surgery only keeps the trolling at bay for 24 hours, huh?” 

“Aw, babe, you know I’d never stop trolling you. I love you.”

“I love you, too, but no funny business in the shower.”

Noah pouts dramatically. “Fine.” Noah doubts he could stand long enough for an _actual_ shower, anyway. 

Their shower is big—not as big as the one Dan had in LA, but it does fit them both. Noah goes in first, makes an attempt to shower on his own, with Dan hovering outside the glass. Noah leans his hand against the tile to rest, and then realizes he can’t actually bend down to get his lower half. 

He glances at Dan who is already naked, and Noah is upset he can’t even appreciate it because he’s exhausted from standing and achy from his stupid surgery and—

“Hey, lean back, okay?” Dan says, fingers tight on Noah’s biceps as he shuffles them back against the far wall. “I’ll get the rest and then we’ll get you back in bed.” Noah just nods and lets his eyes flutter closed as he tries to catch his breath. He feels foolish for thinking he could take an entire shower just because he felt better laying in bed. 

“Do you want to wash your hair?” Dan asks from where he’s crouched, running a soapy loofah over Noah’s thighs. Noah shakes his head. He wants to cancel this whole shower thing immediately. “Okay, babe.” 

Dan gives Noah’s dick a perfunctory wash with a sudsy palm and then turns him by the hips to quickly scrub the loofah over his back and down to his butt. “Okay, let’s rinse.” Dan presses a soft kiss to the shell of Noah’s ear before turning them so Noah can get under the spray. Dan supports a lot of Noah’s weight, and Noah rinses for a few seconds before fumbling around in front of him for the faucet. 

There’s a brief moment as Dan tries to maneuver Noah out of the shower where Noah thinks he’s about to take them both down, but Dan squeezes Noah’s hip tightly and gets him wrapped in a towel and deposits him on the bed—dripping wet and everything. Dan must really love him.

Dan hands him another towel. “Try to dry off a little and I will grab your clothes okay? Or just lay down if you need to.” 

Noah nods and takes the proffered towels, wiping at his shoulders and hair and gently around his incisions. He blinks at them and wonders if he was even supposed to shower with them, but tosses that thought away—Dan surely knows when he is allowed to shower. Dan’s the best. 

Dan returns and gets Noah into a plain white t-shirt that fits closely and smells like Dan and Noah sighs softly. He doesn’t wear Dan’s clothes often or anything, they are not the same size (or style), but it’s comforting him more than he thought a t-shirt could.

He doesn't realize his eyes are closed until he opens them to find Dan giving him the most tender smile he’s ever received. “Hi,” Noah says.

“Hey babe,” Dan replies, pulling at the towel wrapped clumsily around Noah’s waist. Noah leans on Dan’s shoulder as he stands for a moment to let Dan pull the towel away. Then Dan’s kneeling to stick Noah’s feet into a pair of soft pajama pants. 

“Ooh, no undies,” Noah comments. 

“Yes, well, imagine me trying to put underwear on you right now.”

“I’m imagining you taking underwear _off_ me right now.”

Dan gives a long-suffering sigh and gets the pants up to Noah’s thighs. They go through the lean-and-stand rigamarole again and then Noah’s dressed and ready for a long nap. It’s been an exhausting morning. 

“Think you can get in bed while I get your breakfast and the dog?”

Noah nods and angles his head up for a kiss, which Dan provides. Dan’s lips linger on his, and Noah sighs deeply through his nose. 

“Be right back,” Dan says. 

Noah carefully tucks himself back into bed, sitting up against the headboard, and Dan returns soon with a tray full of food. 

“Pancakes?” Noah asks, gazing up at Dan.

“I ordered them, don’t get excited.”

“I am excited though,” Noah says, picking up a strawberry from the top of the stack and popping it in his mouth. “Did you eat already?”

“I did, I woke up a while ago. It’s after ten.”

Noah blinks in surprise. “Oh wow.”

Redmond trots into the room, stares at them both for a moment, before heading over to his bed and settling down for a nap. A nap sounds great, if Noah’s being honest. 

“I’ll just—”

“No, wait, stay,” Noah says. “Where are you going?”

“I was just going to let you rest.”

“When are _you_ resting, by the way?” Noah asks before shoveling a bite of pancakes into his mouth. 

“Well, it is morning and I do sleep at night sometimes,” Dan says dryly, but it doesn’t fool Noah. It must be so tiring taking care of another person, especially with the amount of energy Noah knows Dan expends on worrying. 

“No, we’re taking a nap,” Noah says firmly. 

Dan smirks at him. “We are, huh?”

“Yes. We are. You deserve a nap and I need a nap and I also need you in this bed. So. Ergo—we are taking a nap.”

“Ergo?”

Noah ignores him in favor of the pancakes. 

“Let me go tidy up downstairs, okay?” Dan says after a moment. “Then we can take a nap.” 

Noah beams at him and nods. Dan smiles back fondly and gently smushes Noah’s face. “Hey, I’m injured,” he protests. 

“Your face seems fine,” Dan calls as he walks out of the room.

Once they (Dan) get everything taken care of—dishes, water refills, Noah’s meds, another temperature check for Dan’s peace of mind, Dan getting into sleep clothes, Noah texting his parents to reassure them he’s still breathing even though Dan has been keeping them updated—they’re finally in bed together, and Noah is feeling very, very good. Even though his chest still hurts and his abdomen is kind of sore and he’s exhausted from showering and eating. 

Noah wants to spoon Dan, even though Dan protests that Noah should be the little spoon because he’s “convalescing.” 

“Dan just let me hold you, oh my god,” Noah huffs out as he tries to maneuver Dan into the appropriate little spoon position. Dan eventually goes where Noah nudges, and Noah is able to wrap his arm around Dan’s middle, squeezing as tight as he dares. “See isn’t this nice?”

Dan hums softly. “Yeah,” he murmurs, taking a deep breath. Noah kisses his shoulder—god he misses Dan’s shoulders and it’s only been, like, a day since he’s been able to appreciate them—and takes his own deep breath. 

“I love you, Daniel,” Noah says, nuzzling against Dan’s neck. “And your shoulders.”

Dan snorts out a laugh, and Noah smiles as he feels said shoulders shake with Dan’s amusement. “I love you, too, babe, you weirdo.”

“ _Your_ weirdo,” Noah corrects, letting his lips brush against Dan’s hairline. 

Dan’s quiet for a moment, and Noah lets the sound of his breathing relax him. Noah’s almost asleep when he hears it, a soft _mine_ whispered. 

Noah intends to respond, but he’s so warm and safe and cozy, it just comes out as a gentle exhale before he falls asleep.


End file.
